Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threw himself into fresh controversy this week after apparently citing Hitler’s Germany as an example of effective government. His comments drew immediate criticism, but the office of the presidency quickly claimed that his words had been misinterpreted.
Erdogan was attempting to justify a push to increase the power of the president in Turkey, a role which is theoretically largely ceremonial. This has raised questions about whether such a move could work while maintaining the unitary structure of the state.
He told reporters that there are already examples of such a system working today, as well as in history. He then appeared to cite Nazi Germany as one of those examples.
“There are already some examples in the world today, and also some from the past. You see it when you look at Hitler's Germany. Later you see the example again in various other counties,” he said.
In the face of a storm of criticism, Turkey quickly attempted to clarify what he had said. The office of the presidency claimed in a statement that “Erdogan’s ‘Hitler’s Germany metaphor’ has been distorted by media outlets and has been used in the opposite sense.”
They allege that he was describing Hitler’s Germany as an example of how not to implement such a system. One Turkish official told The Independent that “Nazi Germany, lacking proper institutional arrangements, was obviously one of the most disgraceful examples in history. That's his point.”
